Month: October 2015

Fun Garage Sesh

Slept in again. Out to the garage around 11.

Weightlifting

  • 5 Squat Snatch + 5 Snatch Press (45#)
  • 4 Squat Snatch + 4 Snatch Press (75#)
  • 3 Squat Snatch + 3 Snatch Press (95#)
  • 2 Squat Snatch (115#)
  • 2 Squat Snatch (135#)
  • 1 Squat Snatch (155#)
  • 1 Squat Snatch (165#)
  • 10:00 EMOM
    • 5:00 – 1 Squat Snatch (175#)
    • 5:00 – 1 Squat Snatch (185#)

Planned all 10 minutes at 175# but it was feeling pretty good, so after 3 I decided I’d bump it up for the back end. Got a little iffy on the last couple with 185#, but no misses = a good day. I miss doing stuff like this.

I wish I had set the camera better so I could get the full bar path. It looks like it gets out a few inches from the starting point, but pretty good for not working on it in months.

Conditioning – “Flight Simulator”

5-10-15-20-25-30-35-40-45-50-45-40-35-30-25-20-15-10-5

  • Unbroken Double Unders

I’ve been wanting to test this one out for a while since I haven’t done it in more than 2 years. Perfect day for it. Went all the way up with no misses. Started taking breaks after sets around 30 or 35. On the way back down I missed once on the 40 and twice on the 30. Cruised home with no rest when I got to 25. Finished in 9:30 which is a PR by 4:05!!

That was a fun session.

Went to the chiropractor at 5 and then to the 5:30 class at CFi.

Warm-up

  • Bottom Squat Hold
  • 400m Run
  • PVC Pass-thrus
  • PVC Good Mornings
  • Air Squats

Strength – Deadlift

  • 10×45#
  • 5×155#
  • 5×225#
  • 3×265#
  • 3×295#
  • 3×325#
  • 3×355#
  • 3×375#
  • 3×395#

Haven’t really pushed the weight with deadlifts in months. Wore my belt for the last 4-5 sets and figured I’d see how it felt. I survived.

Conditioning

  • 100 Wall Balls (20#, 10′)
  • EMOM – 5 Burpees

Also known as Wall Ball Kalsu I guess. First minute was free for all wall ballin’ this time, compared to starting with burpees back in March, when I did 5:54. My minutes ended with 28-45-62-80, so I had to bust my ass with 20 reps left in the final minute. I usually get 10 reps in a Tabata round so I knew it was possible, especially if I was already descending into the squats as the ball hit my hands. The 100th rep was in the air as time hit 5:00 so that was good enough for me. 🙂 My rep counts during burpee minutes were 2-3 reps higher than that version we did earlier in the year.

Accessory

3 Sets

  • 14/14 Kroc Rows (70#)
  • 14 Ring Push-ups (feet on short box since rings were up about 6-8 inches.)

14 Kroc rows at a time is rough if you’re trying to keep a solid back position. I was sweating more from these than the metcon.

Back in Michigan

Got home yesterday from Park City and planned on going to the 9am class. Didn’t wake up until 8:45 though. Was great to sleep with some humidity after it being so dry in Utah and in my own bed as well. I went in to CrossFit Intuition around noon.

Rowing WOD Week 12 Session 1

  • Part A – 4 rounds
    • 2,000m
    • 5:00 Rest
  • 5:00 Rest
  • Part B – 2 rounds
    • 500m
    • 3:00 Rest

The 2k rows were done at 20-22-20-22 s/m, making the 2nd two faster. Kept up with increasing the rate 1s for every stroke/minute. The 500s were set to be done at the 2k race pace. Since I started them off as the start of the race, the average pace is below my 1:41 goal, but I settled in around 1:40-1:41 after 200 meters or so.

Could definitely tell the difference being back in Michigan with so much more oxygen available. Looking forward to enjoying the effects of the altitude for the next few days or week and excited to test the 2k later this week.

Went back to the gym for the 5:30 class.

Warm-up

  • Crossover Symmetry Activation
  • 2×8 Reverse Hypers (210#)

Strength: Shoulder Press

  • 8×45#
  • 6×95#
  • 4×125#
  • 2×145#
  • 1×155#
  • 1×165#
  • F – 175#
  • 1×175# (PR match)

That’s a couple times recently where I’ve matched my previous best from last November. I haven’t been consistent on a lot of my strength work though and have put a lot of focus into rowing over the last 12 weeks, so I guess keeping steady should be okay. I also held that last rep overhead for a count of 20.

Conditioning

10:00 AMRAP

  • 7 Deadlifts
  • 7 Power Cleans
  • 7 Push Jerks

I used 115# and set a goal to do unbroken rounds. I then took probably 30-40 seconds of rest after most rounds. After doing that for 6 rounds, I took a shorter rest and did the cleans in singles. Ended up with 7 rounds plus 5 deadlifts. The cleans and jerks started to get hard in those unbroken rounds. Good challenge after not touching weight other than some thrusters last week.

Midline

Weighted Planks (45#, on hands with straight arms)

  • 5 x 45s
  • 1 x 2:00

Went for broke on my last one. I was shaking like crazy. Probably had about 1:00-1:15 rest between attempts alternating with a partner.

Look What I Found!

Headed down to the fitness center this morning and was surprised to see this…

That changed plans and I got excited to knock out the second rowing workout of the week.

 Rowing WOD Week 11 Session 2: Engine

6 Rounds

  • 2,000m
  • 3:00 Rest

Start at 19 s/m and go up by one each interval. When I went to set the damper for the drag factor it was an eye opener. Much different at 7,000 feet. I ended up between 7-8 on the damper for a high 120s. The air is much different up here. Due to that, I dialed back my pace. Total time in the seat was 51:03.8.

Company CrossFit

I organized a private class at CrossFit Park City again this year for Automattic‘s Grand Meetup out here in Park City, UT. Kenzie and Doug coached the class and once again it reinforced that it’s the best box I’ve been to. After they gave an introduction to what CrossFit is all about we got into it…

Warm-up

2 Rounds

  • 50 Lateral Hops (over crack)
  • 10 Air Squats
  • 10 Spidermans

We also did some movement prep for the workout with a PVC and then empty bar.

Conditioning

12:00 AMRAP (Teams of 3, one person per movement)

  • 10 Thrusters (95#)
  • 10 Burpees
  • 200m Run (Pace setter)

So you got some rest while you waited for the runner to get back in. Teamed up with Jeremy and Simon. I got through 3 times and just had the run to go in the 4th. Surprised how well I handled the altitude, so the hiking must have adjusted me pretty quickly.

We cooled down with some stretching.

Went out for a hike after lunch. Ended up being a long one. Went 5.02 miles with an elevation increase of 1,300 feet and it took us 2:49:48. My hips are on fire from all of the hiking the yesterday’s run. The views are  pretty amazing at this time of year though.

First Peak of the Gondola

“Slept in” a little so I missed out on the 5k run this morning. Figured I’d go out and push myself on a hike instead. Went 2.21 miles in 59:40, getting up to 7,950 feet (+1000 from start).

At 3:30 I went out running on the mountain trails with Automattic’s very own crazy running guy to learn more about heart rate training. Wore one of his Garmin watches and learned a lot of stuff. My goal was to stay in the 130-145 zone and I actually did much better than I expected. We went about 2.75 miles in probably 40 minutes or so. Might have to pick up one of the heart rate watches, which will be much better than the strap I have for that type of training.

Hotel Room Work

Will try to stay on Eastern time through the week to make transitioning home easier and I have some early morning running and stuff planned anyway. Knocked out some stuff in my room this morning. No shoes, rubber floors, or anything fancy. Put in reps. Took somewhere between five and ten minutes between each piece.

100 Hand Release Push-ups

Started out with sets of 5 for as long as I could sustain. Had 50 done around 2:10 or so but then it was a struggle. Took me 6:03, which is a far cry from my 5:04 PR in March of 2013.

150 Air Squats

Didn’t stop, but the pace slowed quite a bit. Took me 5:15.

Tabata Hollow Rocks

They always start out so well until about the 4th round. Got 112 reps.

Off to Park City

Didn’t sleep great and woke up with a headache. Coached the 9am class and got in some overhead mobility work laying on a medicine ball while holding a bar overhead on the ground. Saw it somewhere on Instagram a couple weeks ago and have done it several times now; works well.

Rowing WOD Week 11 Session 1: 2k Pacing

rowing-wod-w11s1.jpg

  • 1500m (row as first 1500m of 2k)
    • Should be falling right into the 2k pace at about 250m.
  • 15:00 Rest
  • 1000m (as middle of 2k)
    • Hold steady pace.
  • 10:00 Rest
  • 500m
    • Treat the beginning as the start of a 2k with a sprint start and then fall into rhythm.
    • Sprint out final 300m as if it was the end of the 2k.

The goal pace I picked several weeks was 1:41/500m which would give me a really big 2k PR. I wasn’t that far off and now I’m confident I can hold it through 1700m before sprinting to the finish for an even better time. Leaves me excited for the test when I get back from a week in Park City. I’ll probably catch up on session 2 of this week first though and then give myself a couple days between. I’ve continued to set the drag factor to 133 and seem to have hit a groove with it after some adjustment time.

I did organize a trip and “intro” type class at CrossFit Park City again. Last year we had 13 people attend and there are 38 signed up this year! I’ll also be doing some running and hiking during the week. Will be a good week away from the gym after a pretty brutal few days last week.

GLBRT at Steel Courage

Strategizing?
Strategizing?

Up early and headed down to Chesaning for the GLBRT (Great Lake Bay Regional Throwdown) at CrossFit Steel Courage. Bryan and I teamed up and we also had Michelle and Jess team up.

Event #1

8:00 AMRAP

  • 10 Pull-Ups
  • 20 Wall Balls (20#, 10′)
  • 30 Double Unders

We alternated movements the whole way. We both messed up way too much on our dubs, which sucked. In practice we had done 8+24 in 10:00, not having the correct time. Today we got 6+29, so our practice was better and we even made sure to have the wall ball picked up and ready today which we didn’t do in practice. We placed 8th in this. Should have been a good one for us. Meh!

Workout #2

  • Part A
    • 20 Clean & Jerks (85/115)
    • 20 Clean & Jerks (95/135)
    • 20 Clean & Jerks (105/155)
  • Part B
    • 2:00 MAX Deadlifts (145/205)

We had recently done the Grace thing in the Team Series, so didn’t practice this one at all. We decided to go a little more than pacing and push it by doing 7-7-6 on the first two weights and were hoping for 5-5-5-5 on the 155# bar. Well, we got the first 5-5 and then it fell apart having to go with 5 doubles. We finished at 3:55 and then got 59 deadlifts. They subtracted a second from your score for every rep of the deadlifts, so our “time” was 2:56, good for 6th place.

Workout #3

  • 21-15-9 (1 person on each movement)
    • OHS (65/95)
    • Box Jumps (20/24)
  • 45 Toes to Bar (1 person working)
  • 9-15-21 (1 person on each movement)
    • Thrusters (65/95)
    • Burpees

This one is kind of confusing, but basically both movements are being worked on at the same time in the first and last part, but nobody can start the set of the next number until the set before is done.

I did 21 box jumps, 15 overhead squats, and 9 box jumps, with Bryan doing the opposite movements. We went 12-13-10-10 on the T2B. I did 9 thrusters and he did 9 burpees. Then Bryan did 8 thrusters and I think I only got in 5 burpees; was dying on those. I finished the set of 15 with 7 thrusters and he killed off the burpees. I think we went 5-6-5-5 on the last set of thrusters and I have no idea how we split up the burpees. Finished at 5:59 to destroy the 7:07 we did a week ago. That got us 5th place in the workout. The thrusters actually felt pretty good today compared to our practice, but we used a much different strategy that worked out. Easily the highlight of the day. We were pretty pumped after that improvement and pushing it.

Overall we were the 7th place team. Just didn’t have any high enough finishes for the big points. Wish the first workout would have gone better, but the huge PR on #3 made up for it and then some. Fun day!

Look at that hollow body position!
Look at that hollow body position!

Wrapped Up

Didn’t sleep worth a shit and woke up with my wrists feeling like they had deep bruises from the velcro straps of the leather grips I wore for the T2B. That went away in the afternoon though and I actually felt pretty good. We got going around 5:30 again.

Warm-up

  • 2×8 Reverse Hyper (160#)
  • Bottom Squat Hold
  • Various Clean + a few front squats (45-95-155-185-205-225-235#)

Team Series Event #7 – 20:00

  • 7-rep-max front squat (from the ground)

Having to take it from the ground added a new element. Did a clean and extra squat with 245# to see how it felt. Then knocked out all my reps with 255# and called it a day. Our entire team was done in less than 10 minutes. My back was starting to feel it during those reps and I didn’t want to get hurt with another event and a partner competition tomorrow morning. Satisfied. Our team total was 795#.

Team Series Event #6

As a relay in the order M1-M2-F1-F2, each athlete completes:

  • 30 deadlifts (185/135 lb.)
  • 30-calorie row
  • 30 overhead squats (95/65 lb.)

Bryan went first with a 4:30, I got a 4:37, Jess 6:25, and Michelle 4:23. I did 18 deadlifts, dropped to rotate my hands, and picked the bar right back up. Was averaging about 1,600 cal/hr on the rower, and did my OHS in 3 sets of 10. Those were rough from rep 1. My upper body was shaking all over the place, probably from all the work we did yesterday. Total team time of 19:55.

Doing the Team Series was a lot of fun and a good challenge. Definitely some workouts that took us out of our comfort zone and things we wouldn’t come up with. Now off early in the morning to Chesaning for the local throwdown we call the GLBRT (Great Lakes Bay Regional Throwdown).